


Storm

by jtjenna (pornographicpenguin)



Series: Omega!Levi Verse [2]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Canon Compliant, M/M, and that's a nice thing for levi to be able to lean on, eren has a weird crush on levi after like two weeks and levi's not sure how he feels about that, meanwhile erwin and levi have been together for a long long time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-24
Updated: 2015-05-24
Packaged: 2018-03-31 22:50:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3996037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pornographicpenguin/pseuds/jtjenna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Levi contemplates his memories.  Eren contemplates how much of a badass Levi is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Storm

Levi kicks back in his chair, balancing on the back two legs with his back against the window, rumbling as the rain pounds against it.  He stares at the juncture of the ceiling and the wall across the room, wooden edge of the door set into the wall.  His brain is mush from the paperwork he'd been reading -- report after report, expenses and inquiries.  It's discarded haphazardly over the top of his desk now.  Levi's eyes start to ache with the strain of reading by candlelight, and he pinches the bridge of his nose.

The glass thunks with fat drops of rain, undercut by a threatening growl of thunder.

They hadn't had rain underground.  Just the muddy sluice drained off from the capital, rainwater run under the boots of dirty politicians, slipped through rust-cached gutters, layers of dirt and sediment turning it the color of shit.  People used to drink it out of tin cups they'd dip into streams running along the sides of the road, dripping down and down, level to level, more and more disgusting as it slipped further down....

Levi kicks forward, elbows crashing into the surface of his desk.  For a second, the scrape of wooden legs on the stone floors of the castle almost drowns out the rumbling of the rain.

He shouldn't be thinking about things like that.

"Useless," Levi mutters to himself under his breath even as his brain reminds him:  Used to?  Shit, they probably still do it.

A shiver runs down his spine at the same time as his stomach flips with nausea.  

He sighs.

A little part of his own inner network of protest coughs and gives out with a final wheeze.  

He remembers Kenny Ackerman pressing a knife into his fingers, showing Levi how to hold it, thrust it, the right angle to get it between the ribs.  Levi had mirrored everything perfectly except the manic smile.

"You're small, kid.  People 're always gonna underestimate you when you're small.  Use that to your advantage."

At the time he had meant it about Levi being a kid.  Hadn't actually stuck around through Levi's first heat, when he had straight up stopped growing.

In light of that, the advice had remained useful.

He had told Levi knives were always better for just about anything Levi would find himself doing down in the sewers -- small, navigable.  If he was working with that “underestimation” thing, easy to sneak on an unsuspecting target.  He had tipped his hat over his eyes as he told Levi this, but Levi could still see the _smile_.

He still has four knives strapped on him -- one in either boot, his right hip, and snuck up the sleeve of his shirt.

Levi grinds his teeth.  Remembering shit like this really is useless.

He turns his eyes back to the sheets of paper in front of him, refocusing.  He doesn’t have all night to remember pointless garbage -- he's got a couple more pages to read through before tomorrow morning -- meeting about budget, allocating resources for the next quarter.  Levi rubs at his eyes.  The way it's looking, things are going to be tight.

Almost impossible, the way Levi looks at it.  Exactly like it's been the last few years.

But they've never actually managed to go under.  Levi assumes it's Erwin behind the scenes -- he's circumspect enough to not to ask explicitly about what kind of illegal things the asshole may be doing.  It's not his business, so long as at the end of the day there's enough cash to get supplies and enough food to feed his troops.  Otherwise, he doesn't care.

Whatever it takes.

He used to know someone exactly like that, with the same near-magical ability to pop out of satan's asshole with just enough to get them by, a plan just formed enough -- he remembers when Farlan had sent Isabel down to the market with just enough cash that she would have a hard time bargaining so he could fuck Levi in the back room of the place that was serving as their home that month, nose buried in his own hands because Farlan didn't want to look at his _face_ , breath hot on Levi’s neck and words about how this was _inconvenient_ and any other option was _dangerous_ running like needles through his blood as Levi hid his face in _shame_ \--

His pen clatters against the surface of his desk with a clamor.  With a hollow, empty kind of _thud!_  in his chest, he realizes he’s holding his head in his hands.  

There really isn't enough time in the world for this kind of bullshit.

Levi glares out the window.  The rain is still coming down hard, with no sign of letting up, no break in the clouds, no hint of light….

The sound of water crashing against his window drowns out the sound of the officers downstairs, making the racket they do in their free time, due to the rain.  And, apparently, the sound of footsteps approaching, because when he hears a hesitant, small voice from the door of his office he’s so much caught off guard he nearly tumbles out the back of his chair.

“Uh, Captain -- “

Eren Jaeger stands, alone, in the door of his office, shoulders bowed into a defensive curl as the rain storms outside, and Levi remembers once when Isabel had done just the same, peeking nervously out the window to the men's’ quarters with a knife clutched tight in her fist, just like Levi had taught her --

“What?” Levi snaps.

Eren jumps a step into his office, stuttering something incomprehensible.

“What the hell are you doing here?”  Isn’t his fucking team supposed to be watching the shitty brat?

“Uh, no, I’m -- !”  Eren cuts himself off as Levi stands up, a mess of nervous jittering and twitching and stuttering, and flinches unduly when Levi takes a step closer.

“Eh?” he asks -- rather unhelpfully, given that the expression on Eren’s face remains exactly the fucking same as it had been two seconds ago, and he really shouldn’t have to worry about Eren reminding him of Isabel anymore, because Isabel would never have looked that fucking pathetic and -- afraid.

Levi sighs, crossing his arms.

Oh.  He gets it.

“Eren,” he says, keeping his tone steady and serious.  He can see the way Eren swallows around the lump in his throat from a solid five feet away.  “I’m not going to hurt you for no fucking reason, Eren,” he says.  “And even if I had a reason I wouldn’t beat the shit out of you like that again.”  

Levi had considered that the kid would _hate_ him, but never that Eren would be afraid of him.  (Ten years above ground and he still didn’t get things like that.  Still wasn’t able to drag his mind up out of the gutter.)

“That was the courtroom,” he tacks on, and the words feel like the stupidest shit coming out of his mouth but at least they served their purpose because in the following few seconds Eren lets out a sigh, his shoulders sagging.

“I know,” Eren says.  

Levi has a feeling he didn’t.

“But what if -- “  Eren takes a halting step closer, eyes sliding from Levi’s off to the side and back again.  “What if I -- “  Hands clasped nervously behind his back, he cuts himself off, cheeks warming with a light shade of pink, same shade of pink Isabel’s cheeks had turned when she --

“Spit it out, brat.”

With a cough, Eren stutters, “I -- “

A light pair of knocks on the door cut Eren off once again.  There’s not even a full second of pause before the hinges swing open.

“Sorry, am I interrupting?”  Erwin’s voice rings low in the small room as he pokes his head in, just loud enough to be heard over the dull roar of the rain.  Levi represses a frustrated sigh.

“N-No!” Eren says, far too loud and far too nervously.  If his gut didn’t tell him that the kid was both honest and horrendously lacking in foresight, he’d be suspicious.  Eren follows up a few moment later with a stilted chuckle.

Levi rolls his eyes.

Erwin steps fully into the room and closes the door behind him, not a hair out of place.  The rest of them had gotten fucking drenched in the rain only a couple hours ago, mud caching their shoes and rainwater tacking fabric flush to their bodies.  At the moment, Levi’s boots were banished to the other room until he had the chance to clean them, and there’s still rainwater concentrated in the sleeves of his shirt, stiffening the material around the shoulders.  He’s well aware he looks like a mess.  

Levi has no idea how Erwin always manages to look so impeccable.  Farlan used to always manage the same, living in the fucking gutter with perfect hair and clean shoes and shirts whiter than his fucking teeth --

His line of thought is cut off when Erwin speaks. “In that case,” he says, gaze sliding away from Eren and towards the few papers in his hand.  “I wanted an update on your progress with -- “

“I’ll have it done by tomorrow morning, get off my ass.”  Levi turns and kicks his chair out from behind his desk before he takes a seat, arms still crossed.  Erwin shoots him an unimpressed look, gaze pointedly sliding from Levi to Eren and back again.  One of his eyebrows quirks up.   _Are you really being an insubordinate dick to me in front of the new recruit?_

Levi shrugs.

“As long as it’s done,” Erwin says, attempting to stifle his irritation.  Eren probably isn’t able to hear the change in his tone, notice the way Erwin’s gigantic eyebrows furrow the smallest bit as he turns his gaze down and rifles through the papers in his hands once more.  He’s not actually reading anything, Levi is certain, just rifling through them as a busy gesture.  Levi resists the urge to roll his eyes.  “Eren.”

“Yes!” Eren says.  It’s nearly a shout.  Levi really hopes he manages to settle into the structure of the Survey Corps fairly quickly, because he doesn’t think he’ll have the patience for all the nervous yelling in the meantime.

“Aren’t you supposed to be with Levi’s squad right now?”

“Um,” Eren says.

“He’s with me, Erwin, chill out.”  Levi kicks his feet up on the table.  Erwin gives him a look that barely morphs his features, but Levi is perfectly aware is meant to communicate exasperation.  Levi has gained at least something from the last decade with him.  

He consciously chooses to ignore it, pretend he doesn’t see how Erwin is trying to get him to bow down and let him control the situation. Levi meets Erwin’s eyes with a steady, challenging gaze.

There is a reason no one ever thinks he’s an an Omega.

He thinks, over the pound of the rain on his window, that he hears Eren chuckle.

Levi has to resist chuckling himself.

“Just make sure to lock him up for the night.”

Levi grunts an affirmative.

A tense moment of silence passes.  Levi glares at the paper.  He can’t actually read the print with the only source of light in the room -- two candles, flickering on either side of his desk -- silhouetting the paper.  “Levi.”

So quietly, so mundane it bends into the sound of rain, the crack of thunder, Levi’s brian whispers, Farlan used to --

“Yes, Commander,” Levi says, not looking up.  “I’ll make sure to lock the brat up so tight he can’t even twitch his asshole.”  Eren makes a little choking noise, but doesn’t actually say anything.  Levi continues.  “Go to bed, it’s getting late.”

Erwin makes a noise that could either be amusement or exasperation.  Possibly both.  Either way, he says, at least a little more softly, “Goodnight, Levi.”  He turns to Eren and says, with a dip of his head, “Goodnight, Eren.”

“Uh, good night, Commander!” Eren says with a salute.  Levi stifles a smile.

The door shuts behind him with a click barely audible over the rain.  Levi sighs.  “The rest of the officers are downstairs.”  Having a good fucking time, Levi would bet.  “Why are you up here?”

Eren pauses before answering, taking a couple steps closer to Levi’s desk.  His hair stands up at odd flyaway angles, would probably have the same texture if he ruffled it under his fingers.

“I don’t really know anyone.”

Levi snorts.  He sets the papers on his desk.

“You think you know me?”

“N-Not really.”

Silence settles over the room.  Eren takes a seat in the chair across from Levi’s desk.

He peers at Eren over the edge of the papers -- there’s one page left, maybe two paragraphs that he needs to read -- and lets them fall to the desk.  Cheeky brat.

The rain beats against the window.  For a second, Levi swears he can hear shouts under the roar of it.

“I just wanted to see you.”

Levi scoffs.  “Better choose your words more carefully, brat, or I might think you have a crush on me.”

Eren stiffens, his mouth forming a panicked little line.

The kid has a fucking crush on him.

Silence.  That had probably been what he was going to say earlier.  

Levi stares at him, judgingly, across the surface of his desk.  Why would the kid fucking like him?

“Can I stay here?” Eren asks.  It’s not hesitant anymore, but soaked in unthinking confidence, the determination Isabel had --

Levi resists the urge to punch himself clean in the face.  There’s no use remembering things like that.  “No,” Levi says, standing.  “Go back down with everyone else.”

“But -- “ Eren starts.

“I’ll walk you,” Levi says, cutting off any protest Eren has.  He’ll grow out of it eventually.  In the meantime, Levi has a job.  “I need to lecture my fucking squad for losing you, anyways.”

He moves over to the door, kicks it open and stands there, waiting.  Eren stares at him with wide eyes, head craned over his shoulder.  Still sitting in the chair, fingers digging into the sides, chest puffed up with some kind of protest.

God, does Levi hate Alphas.

He glares.  “Brat,” he says.  “You’d best follow an order when it’s given.”

Eren jumps to his feet.  “Right sir, sorry!”

Levi grunts.  Eren precedes him out the open door.

.

That night, Levi will come back up to his office and read the rest of his report before collapsing into bed.  The rain won’t let up until late, late into the night, and Levi won’t be able to sleep until it does.  He’ll lay with his head buried in the pillow and curse his brain for not being able to let go of the image of Isabel’s disembodied head staring up at him from the mud and dirt, ten years and it still doesn’t go away.  He’ll turn the idea of Eren’s stupid crush on him over in his head.  Tactics for explicitly ignoring it.  How Isabel had been someone he was supposed to protect.  How Eren is someone he’s supposed to have control over, have the discipline to kill if the situation ever comes down to it.

He has no doubt he’ll be able to.

He doesn’t think he’ll feel good about it.

At some point he’ll crawl out of bed and wander down the hall into the room directly adjacent to his.  He’ll tumble into Erwin’s bed without waking him up first, and despite his protests that they have an early day tomorrow and neither of them will sleep as well this way, Erwin will wrap his arms around Levi and let him steal all the blankets.

The memories don’t go away.  Sometimes the hue of Erwin’s hair and the curve of his neck and the calculating way he fucks Levi reminds him of Farlan.  

Sometimes it seems like they don’t even get better.

But in the dark of the night Erwin will press his lips to the pulse thudding in Levi’s neck, and dear god Farlan would never have done that.  He’ll remember how he can trust Erwin to put humanity before Levi, but when there’s no way to hurt his cause Erwin’ll do just about whatever he can for Levi, and it will get a little better.

Meanwhile, that night Eren will lean over the table and insist to Petra, “There’s no way Captain Levi _isn’t_ an Alpha.”

Eren will have no idea.

 

**Author's Note:**

> i love levi so much


End file.
